I was pointed at the Open Banking Project and here are my notes, it would seem that this is part of the regulators attempts to introduce more market pressures into retail finance. The ODI page says,
The Open Banking Working Group (OBWG) was set up in September 2015 at the request of HM Treasury to explore how data could be used to help people transact, save, borrow, lend and invest their money.
Links
- https://theodi.org/open-banking-standard
- http://www.openbankproject.com/
- https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/29812/uk-consults-on-open-banking-plan Nov 2016
- http://uk.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/open-banking-explained.php
https://thefinancialbrand.com/58913/open-banking-standard-api-regulation-fintech/